CSci 115: Computing and the Internet
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Using Aptana

(Note: I think Aptana will work smoothly, but I haven't tried it in the classroom yet. If it fails miserably, we can fall back to an alternative technique. But Aptana looks like it will be much more convenient.)

In this course, we'll use Aptana for editing Web pages. One of the neatest features of Aptana is that it can be configured so that no matter which computer you run it on, when a file is edited and saved, it is automatically uploaded to the Web server. Trust me, it's much better than having to go through an upload process every time you edit the page.

(By the way, if you have your own computer (whether Linux, MacOS, or Windows), Aptana is open-source software that you are free to download from www.aptana.com.)

Unfortunately, though this automatic-upload feature is eventually convenient, it's a bit difficult to set it up. The following is a step-by-step guide.

  1. To start Aptana, go to Start > All Programs > Computer Science > Aptana IDE. (On the Linux computers, it's under Applications > Programming > Aptana.)

  2. In the Workspace Launcher dialog, follow these steps (which apply only to the Windows lab):

  3. If you see a window titled Windows Security Alert, you can check For this program, don't show this message again and click OK.

  4. NOTE: You will not be able to perform the following steps until your Linux account is set up.

    In the lower left corner, under the File tab, right-click SFTP and choose Add new SFTP Site…. Fill in the blanks as follows.

    Site name:CSCI 115
    Server:circe.cs.hendrix.edu
    Remote path:www
    Port:(leave unchanged at 22)
    Username:as assigned — probably your Window's user ID
    Password:leave blank, but uncheck Save

    After you've verified that the blanks are completed as indicated above, click the OK button.

  5. When prompted for a password, type your Linux password, check Remember for this session only, and click OK.

  6. To create a subdirectory named assn1: A new icon will appear below SFTP named CSCI115. (You may need to double-click SFTP to make this visible.) Right-click this CSCI115 icon, select New > New Folder, and enter assn1 for its name.

  7. To create a file in assn1: Drag dummy.html from under CSCI115 into the assn1 directory. This should create a copy of the file.

  8. To rename this file to soln.html: Right-click this new dummy.html under the assn1 directory, click Rename, type soln.html as its new name, and press the Enter key.

  9. To edit soln.html: Double-click soln.html, and enter a short piece of text in its body (such as <h1>Advertisement</h1>). Then save it by clicking the floppy disk icon in the toolbar. (It is automatically uploaded.)

  10. To view your changes: Open a Web browser (both Firefox and IE are installed in the Windows lab). In the Location field, type the URL http://users.cs.hendrix.edu/~yourUserID/assn1/soln.html.

  11. From now on, you'll be able to edit, upload, and view the file by simply saving it in Aptana and hitting the Refresh icon in the browser.

You'll also want to upload files (particularly image files) that are saved in your My Documents folder. To do this, under the File tab in Aptana's lower left corner, open userId on 'hnxdc…' (Z:), locate the file you want to upload, and then drag it into the assn1 directory under CSCI115.